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XL, Chubb Respond To Burma Accusations
08-22-2008 | Source: Reactions - Click here to take out a FREE Trial
People & Companies in the News
XL Capital and
Chubb have been highlighted in a damning report by the
Burma Campaign U.K. Insuring Repression, that alleges insurance companies have helped finance the Burmese military regime.
The report said that Chubb had told the campaign it "bars its member companies from maintaining an office in Burma, from directly writing insurance in Burma or providing insurance into Burma from outside the country." But the report claimed Chubb had just pulled out of Burma.
Chubb hit back at the report, saying it is inaccurate. The US insurer issued a release that said: "The action by The Burma Campaign
U.K. to place
Chubb on its list of non-compliant companies was based on an out-of-date, erroneous list of independent service providers on Chubb's website, which has since been corrected.
Chubb so informed The Burma Campaign U.K. on August 8, and
Chubb subsequently received a letter from The Burma Campaign U.K. that it has corrected the report on its website to remove
Chubb from its noncompliant list.
"Chubb is therefore at a loss to understand why The Burma Campaign U.K. would on August 19 issue a news release which clearly implies – incorrectly – that Chubb has an office in Burma and that
Chubb only now is revising its Burma policy and 'pulling out of Burma' in response to
Chubb being included on The Burma Campaign U.K.'s noncompliant list. We have asked The Burma Campaign U.K. to correct its misleading news release. "
The report said that XL Capital – whose Lloyd's of London syndicate, XL London Market, has previously insured a Burmese regime-owned airline – said it will no longer "seek to insure Burmese companies or operations of companies in Burma".
In the report, Maung Maung, general secretary of the Federation of Trade Unions Burma praised the two companies for withdrawing from the region. "Insurance companies are facilitating trade and investment in Burma, filling the pockets of the generals and helping keep them in power," he said in a statement. "We welcome the news that XL and Chubb have pulled out,
and will no longer help to fund the regime, but we strongly condemn all insurers that remain involved in our military junta run country."
He added: "There is no excuse for the likes of Lloyd's of London being involved, they are helping to fund a brutal dictatorship."
Lloyd's of London is likely to come under more pressure to pull out of the region. "We know that at least two other members of the Lloyd's market are involved with Burma," said Johnny Chatterton, campaigns officer at the Burma Campaign U.K. "Lloyd's is increasingly isolated and is seeing its reputation damaged as more and more insurers take an ethical stance."
Lloyd's of London has made no official comment following the report but admitted that its members are active in the Burmese shipping and aviation sectors. David Gittings, chief executive of the Lloyd's Market Association, said last week that without U.K. government sanctions, there "is no reason for U.K. based insurers to pull out of that market."
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